Malawi Police 2nd most corrupt in southern Africa
Transparency International has ranked Malawi Police as the second most corrupt among six countries surveyed in southern Africa.
“In all Southern African countries surveyed, bribes were reportedly most often paid to the police. Reported bribery levels to the police are consistently high across all countries, ranging from 64 percent in the DRC to 38 percent in Zambia,” states the report.
Malawi stands second on police bribes at 57 percent.
In its report, Daily Lives and Corruption, and Public Opinion in Southern Africa, Transparency International said the perception that corruption had increased was expressed in all the countries surveyed.
“This perception was most frequent in the DRC, with 75 percent of people believing that corruption had increased, while just 8 percent felt that corruption had decreased.
“In Malawi and Zimbabwe, fewer people reported a perceived increase in corruption, but even in these countries, slightly more than a half of the respondents reported that corruption had increased,” reads part of the report.
The research, conducted between 2010 and 2011, said more than 6 000 people were interviewed in six southern African countries on their views of corruption levels in their countries and their governments efforts to fight corruption.
Out of the 1 000 Malawians sampled, 67.9 percent think police are corrupt, 49.4 percent say political parties are corrupt while 36.5 percent thought Malawi’s education system was corrupt.
Perception about Parliament being corrupt stands at 33.9 percent. The Judiciary perceived corruption stands at 32.3 percent, closely followed by private sector at 32 percent, while the media follows at 22.1 percent. NGOs as stand at 19.6 percent, the military at 15.8 percent and religious bodies have a share of 9.8 percent.
“People in Malawi were much more confident in government efforts to fight corruption, with more than 50 percent reporting that they believe the government to be effective.
“In contrast, people in Zimbabwe were least satisfied with their government’s efforts, with almost 60 percent reporting that they believe their government to be ineffective,” reads the report.
The country with frequent bribes among the six surveyed is Mozambique at 68 percent, followed by Democratic Republic of Congo at 62 percent, Malawi at 58 percent, South Africa 56 percent, Zimbabwe at 52 percent and Zambia at 42 percent.
In Malawi, registry and permits which include licences, fees and permits, among others, are second at 44 percent, followed by customs duty at 41 percent, Judiciary at 39 percent, utilities such as water, electricity and telephones at 36 percent and education systems at 26 percent.
Nineteen percent of people in Malawi have to access land services by paying bribes while 14 percent have to offer bribes to access medical services. To access tax revenue services in Malawi, 12 percent have to offer bribes.
“In Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, more than a half of the reported bribes paid were to speed up processes, and about one in five were paid to avoid problems with the authorities.
In contrast, more than two in every three South Africans reported paying a bribe to avoid such problems. People in Zimbabwe had the highest likelihood of paying a bribe for services they were entitled to, with more than a quarter of respondents citing this reason,” reads the report.
Malawi Government spokesperson Patricia Kaliati has urged Malawians to report corruption at every level to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, saying structures are in place to ensure that people enjoy services at the normal cost.
Public Relations Officer for the Anti Corruption Bureau Egrita Ndala said she needed to find out the institutional opinion on the report to formally comment on the report.
